Horizon 8 Day Cruise Questions

I posted this in a Roll Call but probably should have placed that here...

A few questions for the more experienced Carnival Horizon aficionados: (which is definitely not me)

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Are 'Meet & Mingles' always on the same Day or do you never know until you get on the ship?

Formal Night (supposedly Day 2 & Day 7)... been told Nice jeans/khakis and a polo for guys is morethan sufficient on cruise elegant night?

Lobster night is Day 2?

Anyone know which stop (Grand Turk / San Juan / Amber Cove, Dominican Republic) is best for a beach day? Which beach?

Not sure about Meet & Mingles.

Formal Night attire khakis are fine, jeans are usually not. Polo you may be able to get away with but you are better off with a dress shirt.

Lobster night is Day 2.

Of the stops, only Grand Turk has the beach right when you get off the ship. Amber Cove is a pool. San Juan, no beaches or anything near the port.

I posted this in a Roll Call but probably should have placed that here...

 

A few questions for the more experienced Carnival Horizon aficionados: (which is definitely not me)

===========================================================================

Are 'Meet & Mingles' always on the same Day or do you never know until you get on the ship?

Formal Night (supposedly Day 2 & Day 7)... been told Nice jeans/khakis and a polo for guys is morethan sufficient on cruise elegant night?

Lobster night is Day 2?

Anyone know which stop (Grand Turk / San Juan / Amber Cove, Dominican Republic) is best for a beach day? Which beach?

Thanks!

Sounds like its Grand Turk for the beach.... do you just get off and walk there? Anything I should know if we do that?

Formal dress, thinking of a nice pair of long pants and dress shirt for me and 'collar shirts' for the two boys.

Mr Buffet Man... how are the buffets on Horizon? ... as you might be the pro on that topic?

Thanks!

Sounds like its Grand Turk for the beach.... do you just get off and walk there? Anything I should know if we do that?

 

Formal dress, thinking of a nice pair of long pants and dress shirt for me and 'collar shirts' for the two boys.

 

Mr Buffet Man... how are the buffets on Horizon? ... as you might be the pro on that topic?

The Margaritaville is directly in the port and you can’t miss the beach when pulling in or when walking to the port area from the ship. The lounge chairs with the green umbrellas are free and provided by the cruise port.

Buffets on Carnival really aren’t that great but most here seem to enjoy them.

You can rent a golf cart on Grand Turk if you want for about $90 for the day from a few vendors (MaxKart, etc.)

There are some nice beaches on Grand Turk. Head to Jack's Shack and meet the dogs Topher and Calypso.

https://www.jacksshack.tc/

You can head a bit north to Governor's beach too.

You can see the capsule from John Glenn's orbit of the earth here. (Not much of a display.)

Also the south of the island is the conch graveyard. Not much left to find as most conchs are pretty weathered and worthless, but interesting. A lot of seaweed there.

Don't pay for chairs near the ship as they should be free.

From what I understand the buffet flows well on the Horizon as the stations repeat themselves. Blue Iguina, Guy's and the Pizza are outside and the deli is inside the buffet. I will be sailing on July 31st.

Thanks!

Sounds like its Grand Turk for the beach.... do you just get off and walk there? Anything I should know if we do that?

 

Formal dress, thinking of a nice pair of long pants and dress shirt for me and 'collar shirts' for the two boys.

 

Mr Buffet Man... how are the buffets on Horizon? ... as you might be the pro on that topic?

 

There are some nice beaches on Grand Turk. Head to Jack's Shack and meet the dogs Topher and Calypso.

https://www.jacksshack.tc/

 

Don't pay for chairs near the ship as they should be free.

RedArt's tip is good... also, the beach by Jack's Shack is much better than the beach where the lounge chairs are. It's about a ten minute walk down the beach. We'll be petting Topher on the 8/28 cruise out of NYC. In addition, Jack's Shack offers much-needed break from (and improvement over) Carnival Lido and MDR food.

I posted this in a Roll Call but probably should have placed that here...

 

A few questions for the more experienced Carnival Horizon aficionados: (which is definitely not me)

===========================================================================

Are 'Meet & Mingles' always on the same Day or do you never know until you get on the ship?

Formal Night (supposedly Day 2 & Day 7)... been told Nice jeans/khakis and a polo for guys is morethan sufficient on cruise elegant night?

Lobster night is Day 2?

Anyone know which stop (Grand Turk / San Juan / Amber Cove, Dominican Republic) is best for a beach day? Which beach?

On the Memorial Day cruise from NY, M&G was 11AM second sea day, may change from sailing to sailing.

That's what I wore on elegant night.

Lobster is Day 2, or any night in the Steakhouse.

Grand Turk IMO, is the best beach.....walk to the left past all the crowds, select one of the local outlets for lounges, bar & food. The furthest one down the beach is Jack's Shack. The beach gets sandier the further you walk down too, very rocky in the water as soon as you start.

Amber Cove was a wonderful day to spend on the ship, no lines for the SkyRide and Serenity was empty except for the hot tubs.

On the Memorial Day cruise from NY, M&G was 11AM second sea day, may change from sailing to sailing.

I posted this in a Roll Call but probably should have placed that here...

 

A few questions for the more experienced Carnival Horizon aficionados: (which is definitely not me)

===========================================================================

Are 'Meet & Mingles' always on the same Day or do you never know until you get on the ship?

Formal Night (supposedly Day 2 & Day 7)... been told Nice jeans/khakis and a polo for guys is morethan sufficient on cruise elegant night?

Lobster night is Day 2?

Anyone know which stop (Grand Turk / San Juan / Amber Cove, Dominican Republic) is best for a beach day? Which beach?

This is Carnival so it's ok.

Have not sailed the Horizon, but have sailed Carnival 14 times.

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Are 'Meet & Mingles' always on the same Day or do you never know until you get on the ship?

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The Official CC M&M is dependent on when the CD or Entertainment Director wishes to set it up. Invitations should be sent to your cabin, but mistakes happen. The best advice here I can give is in the morning of your first full day on board go to guest services to make sure your cabin is on the guest list. Occasionally there is a breakdown of communications between this website and the actual ship, that even when the 25+ passengers are signed up, no party happens.

We have been on cruises where the M&M was at 3 or 4pm our first Fun Day at Sea, others at 1pm on a port day, and twice right before the Platinum & Diamond gathering on the last day on board. So many active roll calls with experienced cruisers we've been on will also arrange an informal meet-n-greet usually at the Red Frog Bar or Pub for early afternoon on the first seaday so those sharing private tours, doing a slot pull, or participating in a cabin/pub crawl can finalize things.

Some CDs and EDs treat it the way it is meant to be a F2F meeting between online social media groups early in the trip without interfering w/ other "important" ship seminars (Fun Ashore) or activities (RedFrog vs Blue Iguana mixology contest). They may get the "party" started by MCing introductions or have an ice breaker activity. Others treat it as a news conference soliciting questions from the "audience" about their cruise expectations or experience.

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Formal Night (supposedly Day 2 & Day 7)... been told Nice jeans/khakis and a polo for guys is morethan sufficient on cruise elegant night?

Lobster night is Day 2?

...

Your first Elegant Night (which is prime rib and lobster American Feast Menu) should be your first full Fun Day at Sea on board, the second should be your second to last night on board and may be an early back from port day or seaday. BUT if sailing over a holiday, the chef's staff might move these to the night of the actual holiday. Also if sailing on a holiday like Thanksgiving a more traditional menu for the holiday might be offered.

Khakis, dockers, or dark color jeans all seem acceptable for admittance to the MDR for Elegant Nights, but button down shirts (including Hawaiian prints) seemed to be more acceptable to the Maitre'D and hostess staff.

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Anyone know which stop (Grand Turk / San Juan / Amber Cove, Dominican Republic) is best for a beach day? Which beach?

Grand Turk is a small island with very little local flavor for non-water attractions to visit and not much shopping either. The island is literally 14 square miles and people have toured the entire island in half a day by bike rental. This could be your beach day or cheap explore on your own tour day. Like I said bikes are available to rent, along with scooters, 4x4s, and golf carts (try to get advance reservations on anything with a motor). The big in water sight not to be missed is The Wall either by boat snorkeling or dive. About a mile off shore there is a sharply defined natural sea wall from the shallow water coral areas around the island to a 3,000+ foot drop to the sea floor. Along this wall is a great bio-diversity of shallow and deep water sea life. Another popular in water excursion here is the Stingray encounters at Gibbs Cay

The tourist areas within San Juan have pretty much recovered from the hurricanes last fall, but areas outside the city are still very hard hit and trying to rebuild. If wanting to do rainforest or caves book through the cruise line, I say this only because if the tour gets cancelled last minute due to road conditions or reconstruction, the excursion price is immediately refunded to your on board account. For cultural, history, or food tours within San Juan the better experiences are booked on your own. Shopping (except on Sundays) is another option as there are many stores within Old San Juan and they sponsor a free trolley bus to get around. Beaches here are small, but the locals are friendly, but none are really within walking distance of the port area.

We have yet to experience Amber Cove, both times we were due to port there the weather was extreme enough to cancel due to flooding (both times were not during hurricane season). But from what I understand is within the Carnival sponsored port area there is a pool, shops, a bar, and small rocky beach area. Reviews of the free use port areas seem to go to both extremes excelant to horrible, so many seem do private resort day passes if wanting a beach day.

wow... great info, thanks all!